1 00:00:00,950 --> 00:00:01,200 (Louisiana channel - David Hocney: Photoshop is boring) 2 00:00:01,069 --> 00:00:02,139 [David Hockney] The invention of photography 3 00:00:02,139 --> 00:00:03,820 was the invention of chemicals 4 00:00:03,820 --> 00:00:08,559 and in a way, chemical photography is now ended. 5 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:13,639 It lasted - what? - 160 years. 6 00:00:13,639 --> 00:00:18,020 Now, nobody thought chemical photography would end. 7 00:00:18,020 --> 00:00:22,350 Nobody predicts that, do they? 8 00:00:22,350 --> 00:00:25,980 It ended - it certainly has ended now. 9 00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:32,980 Kodak stopped making fixative about eight years ago, I think. 10 00:00:36,660 --> 00:00:42,079 And the fixative was the invention. 11 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:44,300 Daguerre did it his way 12 00:00:44,300 --> 00:00:50,410 and in England Fox Talbot, who was playing with cameras, 13 00:00:50,410 --> 00:00:53,680 and meaning, seeing these images - 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:59,130 and remember, they sold them in color: you always see them in color; 15 00:00:59,130 --> 00:01:02,690 they were surprised that the photograph was black and white 16 00:01:02,690 --> 00:01:04,710 when they first came out - 17 00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:08,719 but, he said to Sir John Herschel: 18 00:01:08,719 --> 00:01:14,399 "How can I -- how can we fix this image?" 19 00:01:14,399 --> 00:01:17,189 They could get it on paper, using silver 20 00:01:17,189 --> 00:01:21,039 but it didn't last long. 21 00:01:21,039 --> 00:01:24,799 And in fact, sir John Herschel said: 22 00:01:24,799 --> 00:01:27,770 "Oh well, if you want to fix it, you need this, this and this" 23 00:01:27,770 --> 00:01:30,749 and wrote out the formula for fixative 24 00:01:30,749 --> 00:01:35,270 that was still being manufactured till eight years ago. 25 00:01:35,270 --> 00:01:40,560 So now, we've now moved out of that period. 26 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:47,560 I will point out, I - in 1989, I was invited by Adobe, in Silicon Valley, 27 00:01:52,969 --> 00:01:56,759 to the launch of Photoshop. 28 00:01:56,759 --> 00:02:00,509 And they invited a few people for various reasons. 29 00:02:00,509 --> 00:02:06,189 I tink I was invited because they'd seen the photo collage I'd done 30 00:02:06,189 --> 00:02:11,930 of - of Pearblossom Highway. 31 00:02:11,930 --> 00:02:18,930 And so they invited me and I went up with my assistant, Richard. 32 00:02:19,090 --> 00:02:23,069 And I took my dogs as well. 33 00:02:23,069 --> 00:02:25,159 They said - I saw it - 34 00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:27,620 the two things they don't like in Silicon Valley: 35 00:02:27,620 --> 00:02:28,790 smokers and dogs. 36 00:02:28,790 --> 00:02:31,349 I said "Well, you got to lump it, 37 00:02:31,349 --> 00:02:33,730 I'm here and you'll have to do it." 38 00:02:33,730 --> 00:02:36,810 But they were showing as well - we tried things [check] 39 00:02:36,810 --> 00:02:40,719 And when we were driving back to LA, I said 40 00:02:40,719 --> 00:02:44,950 "Wow, that was all about drawing 41 00:02:44,950 --> 00:02:48,200 and it's the end of chemical photography." 42 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:50,129 Because you can't do this with chemical photography. 43 00:02:50,129 --> 00:02:54,750 It has to be digital for the Photoshop. 44 00:02:54,750 --> 00:02:58,269 And I was a bit early, but nevertheless, 45 00:02:58,269 --> 00:03:02,400 I could see that's what was coming. 46 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,609 The one-hour Photomat place was going to disappear 47 00:03:05,609 --> 00:03:08,909 - that's what I had been using, things like that. 48 00:03:08,909 --> 00:03:15,459 And it has implications that I began to see. 49 00:03:15,459 --> 00:03:17,040 They've got bigger, 50 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,099 they're still there now, they're getting bigger. 51 00:03:21,099 --> 00:03:23,709 In a way, I mean to say, useful thing, Photoshop 52 00:03:23,709 --> 00:03:30,069 but I think it has made a lot of magazines look very similar, 53 00:03:30,069 --> 00:03:32,420 rather boring. 54 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:38,349 It polishes photography, they put the highlights in, 55 00:03:38,349 --> 00:03:41,780 take them blemishes away, I mean that sort of thing, 56 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:43,489 love it in Hollywood, 57 00:03:43,489 --> 00:03:45,530 they all touch up things. 58 00:03:45,530 --> 00:03:51,060 But I mean, it's also causing a kind of stale look 59 00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:55,700 - to me, anyway, to me. 60 00:03:55,700 --> 00:03:59,920 But that's why, if you need, you know, 61 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:04,609 even fashion magazines, thirty years ago, 62 00:04:04,609 --> 00:04:06,780 would have quite a lot of drawings in them 63 00:04:06,780 --> 00:04:11,680 so you got a different thing as you looked through pages. 64 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,519 But not many people draw now, so it's all photography 65 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:22,950 and I think, getting more and more boring because of it, I think. 66 00:04:22,950 --> 00:04:28,780 I mean, I was - we were just in the Picasso show here, you know. 67 00:04:28,780 --> 00:04:32,980 I was looking at that owl, that marvelous owl 68 00:04:32,980 --> 00:04:36,540 and to Dave, I pointed out, 69 00:04:36,540 --> 00:04:43,540 some people just stuff a real owl and put it in a case. 70 00:04:43,540 --> 00:04:45,220 Not that interesting. 71 00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:48,200 And I was explaining to my young friend 72 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,630 why Picasso's is so marvelous. 73 00:04:50,630 --> 00:04:55,480 It isn't an owl, it's a human being looking at an owl. 74 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,810 It's an account of a human being looking at an owl. 75 00:04:59,810 --> 00:05:01,330 So that's what thrills us. 76 00:05:01,330 --> 00:05:07,570 There is more owlness there than in the stuffed owl. 77 00:05:07,570 --> 00:05:11,700 If you find a way to solve something - 78 00:05:11,700 --> 00:05:16,100 I was talking about the Spring, you know, 79 00:05:16,100 --> 00:05:19,630 I'm working on that now in England - 80 00:05:19,630 --> 00:05:25,880 and how would you depict the arrival of Spring? 81 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:31,620 The arrival of Spring is too slow for a movie to catch it. 82 00:05:31,620 --> 00:05:35,430 It moves too - it moves, but it moves too slowly 83 00:05:35,430 --> 00:05:37,860 for the movie camera. 84 00:05:37,860 --> 00:05:44,860 And it's also not that easy to photograph 85 00:05:45,060 --> 00:05:49,900 because the very first signs of it is so subtle 86 00:05:49,900 --> 00:05:52,890 the camera doesn't see them that well. 87 00:05:52,890 --> 00:05:59,890 But if the human eye sees it, you can exaggerate a little 88 00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:03,160 the first little green shoots coming up, 89 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,470 you emphasize the green. 90 00:06:05,470 --> 00:06:08,660 The cameras can't - they're not that good on color, really, 91 00:06:08,660 --> 00:06:12,640 I mean, they don't see the subtle colors at all, actually. 92 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,550 It's OK, you know, on a beach, color photography 93 00:06:16,550 --> 00:06:20,220 but with greens, it's not that good, really, 94 00:06:20,220 --> 00:06:22,250 even today it's not. 95 00:06:22,250 --> 00:06:27,830 Even, I mean, when we use nine cameras, 96 00:06:27,830 --> 00:06:31,580 and therefore we could use different exposures on each one, 97 00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:33,310 we didn't get a bigger range of greens. 98 00:06:33,310 --> 00:06:35,440 I know that, I mean I know about, 99 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,800 I know about technical things, about film and things. 100 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,550 But it's a - 101 00:06:43,550 --> 00:06:46,060 peop-- you know, 102 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:48,530 not much is written often about these technical problems 103 00:06:48,530 --> 00:06:50,620 they're technical problems. 104 00:06:50,620 --> 00:06:54,540 You can overcome them but 105 00:06:54,540 --> 00:06:55,850 if you're not taught about them much, 106 00:06:55,850 --> 00:06:58,640 some people forget that there are problems 107 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,800 and that they have to be sorted out. 108 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,280 I've been dealing with the Winter in East Yorkshire. 109 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:09,790 It's a climate, just like this really, just over the water. 110 00:07:09,790 --> 00:07:11,100 It's a very similar climate, 111 00:07:11,100 --> 00:07:15,140 very similar horticulture and agriculture 112 00:07:15,140 --> 00:07:19,060 I mean, the Spring is just beginning here, isn't it? 113 00:07:19,060 --> 00:07:21,190 It's just beginning there. 114 00:07:21,190 --> 00:07:27,680 And - but of course, you don't get Spring in Southern California, 115 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,920 not big anyway - 116 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,340 and I found there was more color in the Winter, 117 00:07:35,340 --> 00:07:39,210 that the road, this little road, is darkest of all 118 00:07:39,210 --> 00:07:42,420 at the height of Summer 119 00:07:42,420 --> 00:07:46,920 because all the leaves of - come over it, it's like a tunnel 120 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:48,440 and it's darker in it. 121 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,340 But I mean, you get in light coming in. 122 00:07:50,340 --> 00:07:51,890 But that's its darkest. 123 00:07:51,890 --> 00:07:56,380 It's at its lightest in the winter if it snows, 124 00:07:56,380 --> 00:07:58,860 because you get reflection from the ground. 125 00:07:58,860 --> 00:08:01,490 And we filmed it with nine cameras, 126 00:08:01,490 --> 00:08:04,300 I'm drawing it all the time as well. 127 00:08:04,300 --> 00:08:07,420 My local doctor we're friendly with, you know, 128 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:11,160 because she is a pai-- an amateur painter, 129 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,330 and she comes to the studio 130 00:08:13,330 --> 00:08:15,510 and I'm showing her the pictures. 131 00:08:15,510 --> 00:08:19,280 And then we showed her the films. 132 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:19,940 And she said: 133 00:08:19,940 --> 00:08:23,340 "God, I've never looked at this little street!" 134 00:08:23,340 --> 00:08:25,690 And she said, next time she came, she said: 135 00:08:25,690 --> 00:08:27,670 "You inspired us, David. 136 00:08:27,670 --> 00:08:30,820 We drove down and took a long walk, 137 00:08:30,820 --> 00:08:31,070 a darned long walk [check] 138 00:08:31,030 --> 00:08:34,340 after watching your films and those things." 139 00:08:34,340 --> 00:08:35,120 And I said: 140 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,610 "Well, it's a lovely, it's a 141 00:08:37,610 --> 00:08:41,430 - I'll tell you what's very nice about there: 142 00:08:41,430 --> 00:08:47,360 it's a very, rather isolated bit of England. 143 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,750 It's very isolated partly because there's a wide river, 144 00:08:51,750 --> 00:08:55,910 the Humber, to the South 145 00:08:55,910 --> 00:08:58,470 and there are not many people there, 146 00:08:58,470 --> 00:09:00,090 not many people live there, 147 00:09:00,090 --> 00:09:04,180 it's agricultural, great one agricultural land [check] 148 00:09:04,180 --> 00:09:07,710 so they don't build on it much. 149 00:09:07,710 --> 00:09:09,800 Not many people. 150 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,740 And we can - we painted in it, filmed in it, 151 00:09:13,740 --> 00:09:16,170 nobody's - nobody there to stop you. 152 00:09:16,170 --> 00:09:19,240 In L.A.! Oh, if you got out a camera in a car, 153 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:20,420 you'd have had to get permits, 154 00:09:20,420 --> 00:09:24,710 you'd have to get police riding to protect you, 155 00:09:24,710 --> 00:09:25,810 install lines [check] 156 00:09:25,810 --> 00:09:28,250 Hollywood cops and things. 157 00:09:28,250 --> 00:09:34,710 But in East Yorkshire, we come, nobody bothers us, 158 00:09:34,710 --> 00:09:37,270 We're hanging on jeeps, you know. 159 00:09:37,270 --> 00:09:40,750 I mean, actually, once JP and I, 160 00:09:40,750 --> 00:09:44,740 we were going out painting with our canvasses 161 00:09:44,740 --> 00:09:46,530 and you never see anybody out there, 162 00:09:46,530 --> 00:09:49,930 and suddenly, aboard a Toyota truck [check] 163 00:09:49,930 --> 00:09:53,650 four policemen jump out and we got a ticket: 164 00:09:53,650 --> 00:09:55,690 we hadn't put our seat belts on. 165 00:09:55,690 --> 00:09:58,080 And OK, we were just not going far [check], 166 00:09:58,080 --> 00:09:59,830 we were going to get out our canvas. [check] 167 00:09:59,830 --> 00:10:01,280 And so we got the tickets. 168 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,529 One of the policemen is looking out of the window to me 169 00:10:04,529 --> 00:10:07,260 and saying "You got to have the seatbelt, 170 00:10:07,260 --> 00:10:09,300 death is lurking everywhere." 171 00:10:09,300 --> 00:10:11,680 Well, I'm looking out of the window and I mean, 172 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,750 I mean at leaves coming on the trees, 173 00:10:13,750 --> 00:10:15,720 the spring is coming out, and I say: 174 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,120 "Well, you know, life is lurking everywhere as well!" [laughs] 175 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,610 Anyway, we got the tickets, 176 00:10:22,610 --> 00:10:25,930 we might put them in the exhibition, actually. 177 00:10:25,930 --> 00:10:29,200 But we were going to paint, you know, 178 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:30,730 set up six canvasses. 179 00:10:30,730 --> 00:10:33,850 Well, if they saw us with these cameras, 180 00:10:33,850 --> 00:10:36,320 we'd have been taken out to jail, probably, I mean 181 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:37,760 because we were hanging on. 182 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:38,770 But we're not going very f-- 183 00:10:38,770 --> 00:10:42,310 I mean, we were going, you know, 10 miles an hour. 184 00:10:42,310 --> 00:10:44,310 They'd leave it alone, probably, 185 00:10:44,310 --> 00:10:50,810 but it was amusing that we got the ticket for the seatbelts. 186 00:10:50,810 --> 00:10:54,340 I did tell them that I was not particularly into bondage, me: 187 00:10:54,340 --> 00:10:56,150 I'm not, actually. 188 00:10:56,150 --> 00:10:59,110 I f-- I don't like the seatbelts. [laughs] 189 00:10:59,110 --> 00:11:01,790 A lot of people are into bondage .... [check] 190 00:11:01,790 --> 00:11:03,550 and it's OK: good fun, sometimes. 191 00:11:03,550 --> 00:11:03,800 (Louisiana channel) 192 00:11:03,620 --> 00:11:03,870 (Supported by Nordea Funden) 193 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:04,010 (louisiana.dk/channel) 194 00:11:03,790 --> 00:11:04,040 (ŠLOUISIANA)